Wednesday, January 7, 2009

He bit him?

The National Hockey League (NHL) has fined and suspended Jarko Ruutu for biting Andrew Peters in last nights game between the Sabres and the Senators.

So let me get this straight, Ruutu, after being face washed by Peters, decided to bite Peters' thumb. According to the AP, he bite down and broke through the glove drawing blood. Really? Was that necessary? I mean its for one thing to leap into the stands and beat a guy with his own loafer or throw a cheap shot when you are about to lose the Stanley Cup (remember that Hextall?), but bite a guy? I find that horribly juvenile. The worst he could have done was actually fought Peters, he's a crummy NHL fighter, so he's got a chance. But no, you decided to play Hannibal Lector.

Don't get me wrong, I loved Peters when he played in Rochester, he was a great fighter, but now, he just prances around and clutches guys during a scrap. THROW A PUNCH! Put some foil on those hands!

Unbelievable!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

It's All About The Quarterback

When it comes to voting for NFL Most Valuable Player, the ole' boys of the Associated Press end up looking more like a group of giggling goo-goo eyed high school cheerleaders than the most informed and intelligent sports minds in the world. When they selected Peyton Manning as MVP this week, they might as well have said, "Ohhh Peyton, he's sooo dreamy."

Given, Manning had an amazing second half of the season. But, his first eight games looked similar to Brett Favre's last five. In those first eight, the Colts lost four and Manning had four multi-interception games and managed a quarterback rating over 100 only twice.

From week 9 on, Manning threw 17 touchdowns with just three interceptions and the Colts won each game. Unbelievable, right? But can you really give someone the Most Valuable Player award when they were only valuable after week 9?

Statistically, Manning isn't even the best quarterback. Four quarterbacks had higher QB ratings, five threw for more yards and four had more touchdowns.

If anyone was MVP, it was the Colts offensive line, who allowed only 14 sacks of Manning all season.

It has truly become insulting that the award is still called Most Valuable Player. Most Valuable Quarterback is more like it. Why even bother allowing other positions to win the award when eight quarterbacks have won MVP in the last 10 years.

The last non-quarterback or running back to win the award was in 1986. Twenty-two straight years without the other positions on the field even being mentioned. If you think the most valuable player in the league was a quarterback in every one of those seasons, you'd be more confused than ESPN executives at an Ethics in Broadcasting seminar.

There are two non-quarterback candidates that should have placed ahead of Manning. Falcons running back Michael Turner and Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware.

Turner finished second in the NFL in yards with 1699, only 61 behind Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. Turner scored 17 touchdowns (seven more than Peterson) and only fumbled three times (six less than Peterson).

But what makes Turner the MVP isn't just his statistics, it's the role he played in turning a broken Falcons team into a playoff contender. Averaging 4.5 yards per carry controlled the clock and kept the Falcons defense off the field. Turner kept the Falcons in second-and-short, opening up the downfield passing game, which Roddy White and Matt Ryan fully took advantage of.

Being the most important player on a team who goes from 4-12 to 11-5 automatically makes you valuable, but putting up those fantasy stats like Turner did should have put him at the top of the heap. No dice, apparently the AP didn't see any Michael Turner Wonder Bread, Subway, Addidas, etc. etc. etc. commercials that they've seen Manning on.

DeMarcus Ware had the best season for a linebacker since Derrick Thomas in 1990. Ware had 20 sacks, 86 tackles and six forced fumbles. Ware had three of those sacks against the defending Super Bowl champ New York Giants.

When Lawrence Taylor won MVP in 1986, he had 20.5 sacks. Maybe it was the .5. Otherwise, considering there wasn't an obvious offensive MVP, Ware should have been at least somewhere near the top of the voting.

Since Ware isn't a quarterback and was no where near as publicized as his premodanna teammates Romo and Owens, he didn't make the radar. Ware will likely win the defensive MVP, but why is it always the offensive guy who is more valuable? Was Trent Dilfer more valuable than Ray Lewis on the 2001 Super Bowl champion Ravens?

It's all about bells and whistles with these guys. It's the reason Joe Namath is a Hall of Famer. It's the reason eight of the last nine Heisman Trophy winners were quarterbacks. Not because it's deserved, but because they are in the lime light and our friends with the AP are blinded.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Chad Pennington: 2 Brett Favre: 0

Like everyone else, I too was excited for the announcement of this years NFL Comeback player of the year award. For those who do not understand the headline, Chad Pennington has won the award. Favre, on the other hand, did not win. He didn't even have a vote.

Let's rewind to last summer. The Jets won this Favre lottery, which came from the wierdest retirement of a legendary player. The Jets essential said to their quarterbacks currently on the roster that they had no skill and should probably quit at life. No, no, Vinny Testaverde was not there. He was finally selling his house in Cleveland that day... or something like that.

One of those poor QB's who were told the George Bailey story that they were worth more dead than alive was Chad Pennington. Yeah, both of us at Sal's 401K have numerous mocked people with his jersey. Though this time, I'm giving him kudos.

I believed in Chad, thought it was great that he could leave New York, cesspool of the north and go to Miami, cesspool of the south. With a new coaching staff and a management looking to actually do something (take note Miami based franchises), Pennington could succeed. A few factors allowed him a chance:

1.) This isn't New York, so if you lose one game, the fans won't kill you out in the street like South American football matches.

2.) No one was expecting you to succeed, especially in that division. Brady and company were supposed to have it wrapped up in July.

3.) Brett Favre is like a million years old and doesn't have a great wide receiving corps like you do. Not everyone has O.J. McDuffie... wait is he even on the team?

Either way, Brett failed to even make the playoffs, Chad did. Mark that one. Now, apart from playing in January, you won an award saying that people think he had the best turn around. That's two. So way to go Chad, you just gave the Jets management a good ol' shit burger to wolf down. Especially when they will go out and sign Dave Klinger for a back up role for Brett. Maybe they can get Rae Carruth for a song. If he's out by next year.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Best Year Ever!

(Cue Audio: "When you wish upon a star")
GFX: Roll tape of embarrassing Lions plays (fumbles, picks, miss tackles, Matt Millen)

The Detroit Lions, you have just lost your 16th game of the season. What are you going to do next?


All the Lions in unison: "We're getting the first overall pick!"

VO: Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you too can have the first overall pick in the NFL Draft if you; blow every game of the season, fire coaches, trade away players with great potential and have Matt Millen as your GM for a few years before considering to do something about it. Then when you do get that first overall pick, might as well make it the traditional Lions pick, draft a wide receiver. Those wide outs have been great for them lately.

For the first time ever in NFL history, one team has managed to go win less in a season. All those early Tampa Bay teams can have their champagne and boast about how they were the best and how no one can touch them. They must have some Mercury Morris in that bunch who was a mediocre RB on a crappy team but mouths off like he won the Super Bowl single-handily. Then have a commercial with Reebok after the Lions lost, welcoming to the losers neighborhood.

This futility of the Lions, especially within the past few years have given Motown this appearance of the early Mets teams. When all else is wrong in the world, at least the Lions will lose.

The NFL talks about the parity of the league but since Matt Millen was at the helm of the Detroit office, the team has tanked. For goodness sake, since then the Saints went to the playoffs and even the Cardinals won the division, first time since they left the Midwest.

Of course the Lions have been suffering for years. How do you have a running back more explosive than LDT and put up better numbers than Emmitt Smith but fail to win more than one playoff game with him. That summed up the Barry Sanders years. No wonder he left football (well, that wasn't why, but you could reason with that)!

Detroit. I love to stand by Midwest teams, that the kind of guy I am. But you guys are f*cking it all up! Hell, even the Tigers went to a World Series. I thought the only way they could come back was if zombies sprouted from the earth in the year 9595 and Jack Morris pitched 21 consecutive scoreless innings and Hank Greenburg hit a 500 ft home run!

Detroit, here is the ultimatum. Do something or your fired! I heard L.A. needs a new team.

Sal Sez: "The strip joints in Motown are out of sight!"

Saturday, December 27, 2008

The Winter Classic is the Best Idea in Ages!

Nothing brought in the new year better than a pond hockey game in a snowy Great Lakes city. Buffalo, forever linked to those early 90's Bills playoff games where the temps were low and the turf was covered in snow. Fans still coming out in droves, some in the skimpiest of attire (the men usually).

But the great sight last New Year's was seeing Ralph Wilson stadium packed with excited hockey fans. Who couldn't have been excited, not only was Sid the Kid coming to town but so was NBC and the whole hockey establishment. The Winter Classic was the NHL's opportunity to reintroduce itself as being different but most importantly a fun, exciting sport again. Though there was little scoring, the feel and the players made up for it. The ending, a shootout goal by Crosby, sealed the deal for the league. No better way than to have the games biggest star score the first game winner of 2008.

Now the NHL has done something smart and are trying to replicate it. Wrigley Field will host the second Winter Classic. The Blackhwaks will host the Detroit Red Wings, a match up of divisional rivals, both of which are tops in the league.

Chicago is trying to rebuild it reputation in the league as a force of youth. Patrick Kane and Jon Toews are the stars of tomorrow.

Detroit is the defending champs led by a veteran core of Lidstrom, Datsyuk and Osgood. These guys are the steady contenders.

Either way it is great to see an Original Six match up. Outdoor games being played in great hockey cities. Obviously it won't be long before we see Toronto-Montreal or Calgary-Edmonton, but those are difficult to draw an American audiance in.

The fact remains these games are great for hockey and great for television. It happens once a year on a holiday with the possibility of a great viewing crowd. Let's keep up the good work NHL, it's been a hell of a comeback.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Yankee Fans: I cannot feel your pain... ever!

After Marky Mark went from sunny California to the Big Apple where every at bat and every trip to the barber shop is examined, the Yankees proved once again that the only God in sports is the Almighty Dollar. This is a team assembled by a corporation set out on creating robots that are so uniform and sterile, you'd think they didn't have reproductive organs.

See, growing up in a family where most of our sports allegiances have suffered decades without a conference championship let alone a World Championship, I can never ever feel sorry for a group of fans who have waited only since 2000 for the hopes of a title.

Yankee fans are always believing that their wealth and the fact that they always recieve the best players is what makes them the best. Combine that with their desire to have the most boring looking lineup and rotation in baseball (called "The Yankee Way") makes them more intolerable than having your toe nails being pulled out.

This Yankee Way has been a thorn in my side. Groups of players known for their flair and color are not good enough to be Yankees or would be promptly told to change "their ways" for the "Yankee Way."

To me this is more of a group of historically rich fans to think of themselves as richer. For them winning the World Series is like Mr. Burns getting another ivory back scratcher. These titles are so plentiful some of them are really of no value and no signifigance to the fans. While easily any Phillies fan could treasure both of their teams Fall Classic triumphs. For someone like myself who grew up an Indians fan, the only recollection I have is failure through David Justice/Tom Glavine and Edgar Renteria.

While Yankee fans are down in the dumps since 2000 but are now riding an optomism that can only surpass how they felt since Joba became a starter (based on what again?), these fans will become unbearable. Major League Baseball, outside of the New York market has enjoyed success over the last several seasons as many teams unfamiliar to postseason play have become stars to it. Honestly who could have thought that ten years we would see Tampa, Colorado, Detroit, Chicago AL and Houston in World Series play, let alone two Red Sox World Series wins? I know I couldn't. Let the Yanks buy their players, it's gonna happen but don't ever let me think that people should pity their fans.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Yankee Fans, I Feel You're Pain

Before I say this, I'd like to kindly ask all Red Sox fans to put down their pick axes, crossbows and hatchets, because....I feel bad for Yankee fans. How can you not empathize with a group of people who are forced to cheer for the most boring, manufactured, colorless team in the history of baseball?

When the Yankees signed first baseman Mark Texiera to a 26-year, 10 zillion dollar deal in the off-season, they crossed the final T and dotted the final I on selling away any chance at their team having a soul. Now officially every player on the team has proved that, to them, money is more important than baseball.

Some of the Yankees players probably had to close their eyes and take a drink before signing their name in blood. Think about Johnny Damon. After winning the world series with the Red Sox, Damon signed with the Yankees. I'm guessing it wasn't because he looked good in blue and white. Since Damon has been a member of the Yanks, he has smiled less than Clint Eastwood.

If you are a Yankee fan, how can you be happy? Isn't what makes a championship team great the role players? You know, it's that guy you never expect to hit the home run or the unsung hero who bunted for a single the play before. That is what makes a sports fan fall in love with a team.

Take a look at some previous world series heroes. All 5 foot nothing, 100 and nothing pounds of David Eckstein won the world series MVP award in 2006. Bill Mazeroski, who hit seven home runs in 1960, hit the walk-off, series winning home run. Pat Borders, who hit .253 with 69 home runs for his career, won the world series MVP for Toronto in 1992.

Sure you have you're big stars, your quarterbacks and slam-dunkers, but its the mix of stars, along with blockers and rebounders that make a winning team lovable.

But, I may be going to far to assume the players' salaries will amount to winning. Would you trust your janitor to put in 100 percent, do his work with joy and excitement and push it to the limit? Or would you assume that he's only doing it because he's getting paid to.

I heard someone say the Yankees winning would be good for America. Hmm, are we a nation that only cares about winning no matter how we got there? I'd like to think not. I'd like to think we were the underdogs who beat the British in the Revolutionary War. But maybe today's sports fans would have cheered for the red coats, or even rooted on Napolean in his attempt take Asia.

Yes, I do feel for these people who will cheer on the Yankees. Because even if they do win the world series, for the rest of time, everyone will always remember them as the team who bought it, not earned it. Remember the 1997 Marlins?

How could you expect anything less from an organization who gasps at a goatee? Those who love baseball don't want crew cuts, they want excitement and a child-like passion from their favorite players. If they Yankees won the series, instead of a dog piling, they'd be meeting with their agents to find out about the bonus.

Just look at who the Bronx Boring are trotting out in the field this year: at first base, Al Gore. Second, a rocking chair. Third, my old P.E. teacher. Left field, that monotone public adress announcer guy. On the mound, a box of cheerios (not the ones with honey). Behind the plate, Mona Lisa. And closing, well, thats still Rivera. The guy is amazing on the mound, but has about as much jolt in him as a West Palm Beach retirement facility.

I'd be more excited watching C-Span than YES this season. How can you not feel bad for fans that have to endure that?